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Friday, June 24, 2016

Orange is the new broke

When Donald Trump launched his presidential
campaign he bragged that because was worth “$10 billion” he would not have to
concern himself with raising money and could self-finance his campaign.

Thanks
to his weak competition in the Republican primary, Trump did not have to spend
much to get an advantage over rival campaigns and Super PACs, but in the
general election it is unlikely that Trump can get by simply based on tweets
and bombast as he did with Bush, Cruz, and Rubio.

On Monday night Trump filed his finance report with the Federal
Election Commission (FEC) and the failure of his campaign to bring in money is
nothing less than amazing.

In May of 2016, Trumponly raised$3.1
million from contributors and loaned his campaign an additional $2.2 million.
At the end of the month the campaign only had a shocking $1.3 million dollars
in cash on hand.

As journalists quickly pointed out, Trump’s fundraising more
likelyresembleda House
member with “a semi-competitive seat”or“a safe
Senate seat in a deep red state.” The numbers are definitely not the sort of
figures associated with a national presidential campaign.

The results look even worse compared to Hillary Clinton. At the
end of May, her campaignhad$42
million on hand, an amazing disparity of $40 million between the two campaigns.

And while donors have said they are still unable to determine
which Super PAC to donate to in order to support Trump, the Super PAC backing
Clinton, Priorities USA,had itsbiggest
month ever with $12 million in donations.

Even compared to fellow Republicans, Trump’s numbers are
pathetic. In May of 2012, Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and the
Republican Partyraised$78
million dollars. The current GOP only raised $12 million this May.

Defunct campaigns like Ben Carson’s currently have $7.4 million
on hand, more than Trump’s active campaign.

Is This Another Trump Scam?

There are also some weird expenditures from the Trump campaign
found in the FEC reports. He appears to be redirecting some money back towards
himself.

His campaignpaid$423,371
for the use of Trump’sown
housethe Mar-A-Lago mansion
and club in Florida.

Even stranger, Trump seems to bedrawing a salaryfrom his campaign, a very unusual arrangement especially
for someone claiming to be a “billionaire.” The filings find that Trump is
regularly being paid $2,574 as part of “payroll” for the campaign.

AuthorOliver
Willis was one of the
first political bloggers in the world (since 2000), and was among the first
bloggers to interview President Obama at the White House. I am on Twitter@owillisand write at OliverWillis.com

Thought for the day

“Charlottesville is a great place that’s been very badly hurt over the last couple of days. I own, actually, one of the largest wineries in the United States. It is in Charlottesville.”

Donald Trump, responding to a question whether he would go to Charlottesville to offer support and comfort as so many Presidents have done in the past.

Quick fact check: Donald Trump does not own the winery; his idiot son Eric does under the name Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC. And at 36,000 cases annual production, the winery is not even the largest winery in Virginia, never mind the United States.

Information and Feedback

If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this.